Obsessed with Asian/Korean stuff - taking your skincare to level 5!

[FrustratedFrugal]

Are you curious about Asian/Korean beauty products?
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Check out past threads for product and vendor recommendations.

Remember, orders of £15 or less are VAT free!

On one hand I'm pleased that my fiver spent on it will last a long time...but on the other, it will last a long time & I like variety I can't decide what else to try though.

Apparently the HL wash in the pump, not tube, is nice.

I ordered! Mizon sleep mask and cc cream, Skin Food black sugar cleansing oil, snail sheet masks and a rose toner. Also Tonymoly appletox cream, partly for the good reviews and partly for the cute packaging - when I looked at the order I'd accidentally ordered two. Have emailed roseroseshop, but if they don't take it out would someone like to do a swap when it arrives?

So excited now (and pondering how much mn has cost me over the years...).

I have the appletox - not actually used it yet but dd2 likes to talk to it .

I'm hoping my skin analyser arrives this morning so I can play with that rather than paint a wall - am feeling lazy!

My RetinA arived yesterday (0.025%) - I tried it last night and my face didn't fall off, so that's good !! Its a tiny tube, but you only need a little, I suppose. How often do you reckon I should use it? I didn't use my cosrx BHA stuff afterwards, just in case....

The Missha FTE seems good, doesn't smell of anything really and sinks in, so have been using that before my HL and all the other stuff. I think my skin is looking pretty decent, which is good. Hopefully there won't be too much purging due to the retinA, I don't usually get many spots, so here is hoping! There was a small under the skin one today, but it is TOTM, so who knows!!

I think I'd use the retin-a once or twice a week and build up from there.

My skin analyser didn't turn up this morning so I've painted the wall where all my pictures were (am after a big frame for lots of photo's if anyone's seen one), washed my curtains and done some drawing for Rainbows tonight.

Could I please have some suggestions for products to lighten age spots on the face, hands and arms?

iamanintrovert Id be looking for products with niacinamide, obviously it won't be an overnight miracle worker but over time it helps to even pigmentation and lighten dark spots. I know a few people use the scinic Aqua bomb on their body, I'm considering giving it a try when I put in my next order.

In other news Benton essence doesn't agree with my face :( if anyone wants it let me know, it's been open a week in a dark place, 2017 expiry on the box, nice and clear with no smell, just no good for me :)

Which Benton essence Lucy?

RenardeRenarde saw your post just when I was going to type , have you tried vit C serum for your dark spots ? I have been using it ( the OST one ) and kicking my self that I didn't get before and after pics , 1 1/2 months using it at night has visibly brightened my skin and reduced pigmentation around eye area massively , just a suggestion because if has worked for me really well . If nobody else wants the Benton I'd love to try it please . Thanks

It wasn't me Angela! I presume the snail bee though...most folks seem to try that one first.

iamanintrovert, I agree, niacinamide would be a good starting point. Maybe vitamin c serum too but you'd need to be careful about sunscreen using that.

I read a post on reddit a couple of weeks ago where the poster had seen a dramatic reduction in the redness of PIH after introducing vitamin c twice a day instead of just once.

I found a The Face Shop rice ceramide cream for under £4 while hunting last night - am tempted to try that before the COSRX honey ceramide for winter, just because it's so much cheaper!

jackie I haven't tried vit C because I go red at the drop of the hat and was worried it would irritate - once I get the rest of my routine stable I will definitely give it a shot, suspect it would really help my hyperpigmentation. Keen to try azelaic acid at some point too.
You're welcome to the Benton, PM me with details on where to send it :)

lucysmam where did you get the retin from if i may ask ? X

It's wickedfairy with the retin-a! There is a thread kicking about with rec's for ebay sellers...I shall go hunt it down & link

(Then hide, cos clearly I spend too much time here 'cos you all think I bought everything )

Thread here jackie, there are 2/3 recommended sellers in there iirc

Thanks for those suggestions :)

Also has anyone come across a good Asian shampoo for dry scalp?

iamanintrovert, I haven't tried any hair stuff yet. If you have a search on reddit Asian Beauty though, there have been several haircare threads lately so you might find something in there.

From what I've read; the focus is on the scalp first and then the hair, so there are scalp serums and treatments etc. out there which might help.

My skin analyser has arrived - I'm just having a play now but every bit of me so far is 'oily' so I may have a look for something that's a bit more sophisticated to go with my haul.

Ok, I've just tried it on my forehead - that's not very 'moist' (scored a -1) whereas my cheeks scored a 1 for oil. So I guess I need more moisture for my forehead and less for my cheeks.

I need some sort of table to record results in for a week or so I think - see what each product does & get some bare skin readings.

Well something has gone wrong somewhere. My face is looking red like I've had microdermabrasion and my nose is flaky. It's either the vitamin c or aha.

Which did you introduce most recently?

I'd remove them & proper baby your skin with lots of hydrating/moisturising layers until it feels normal again. Then re-introduce slowly & watch out for any reaction again.

I have stopped both and am drowning my face in moisture.

It was me with the Retin-A, I bought from healthnbeautyexpress on eBay. A few people on here recommended them. Came from Thailand, although the envelope was posted in Germany (probably bulk shipped there). It came in about 10 days, I reckon.

Only used it once so far, but have not had an adverse reaction, hopefully it stays that way!!

Does anyone have a good recommendation for a day cream for oily skin. It is dehydrated so I look after it at night, but during the day my nose/chin/under eye cheek area (not sure of the right word!) get very shiny. At the moment I am using mizon snail repair, also the holika holika bb cream & innis no sebum powder, but it's still shiny.

Am I over exfoliating? I use those clearasil pads most nights, and also the cosrx a sol stuff (which has totally got rid of my acne! Never before have I had such clear skin)

The a-sol doesn't exfoliate so you should be ok with that one.

You could try something with niacinamide to help tone down the oily ness & maybe use the clearasil every other night. See if that helps.

I still need to blot with oil absorbing sheets before picking the girls up but am not as oily since I started using more layers of lighter products.

Innisfree green tea balancing cream was suggested to me on reddit as a day cream. I haven't tried it though. I also found a Secret Key one (can't remember the name but it sounded good for evening skintone & has niacinamide) and Nature Republic rice ceramide cream while hunting. The NR is less than £4 so am going to try that one first.

I think my skin is improving as I include better researched layers to suit my skin/the environment I'm in if that makes sense.

Is that the secret key snow white? Because I looked at the best ingredients and went off it when I discovered it had loads of acne triggers. I have bought the Tony moly panda whitening cream as I've had some testers and it hasn't broken me out yet nothing to do with the cute pot
I am cross as I arranged to have 2 parcels redelivered today and they still haven't arrived